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No. 61,469. Patented Jan. 22, 1867.

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guitar! gtstzs gum @ffi ISAAC ROWELL AND FRANCIS E. M1LLs,-oF SANFRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA. Letters PM no. 61,469, dated January 22, 1867.

Mons or Home PHOTOGRAPHS ron amnion;

To ALL WHOM IT' MAY corronnu Be it known that we, ISAAC Rowan. andFnancrs E. MILLs, of the city and county of San Francisco, and State ofCalifornia, have invented a new and improved Anthrophotoscope; and we dohereby declare thatth'e following is a full, clear. and exactdescriptionthereof, which will-enable others skilled in the art'to makeand use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings,forming part of this specification, in which Figure 1 is a longitudinalvertical section.

Figure 2, a transverse vertical section, taken inthe plane of the linea: :b, fig, 1; and

Figure 3, a detail view, to be hereinafter referred to.

Similar letters of reference indicate like parts.

The nature of our invention consists in carefully divesting the likenessof all those portions of the card, paper, or other opaque substancerepresenting background and not essential to the image which it isdesired to preserve, and substituting therefor a background placed onanother plane, diverging upward from the plane of the likeness, andintersecting the latter at the feet. Should the likeness be afull-length figure, and it be desired to show a floor or otherforeground forward of the feet, this foreground is placed on the sameangle of inclination as the background. The effect of this arrangementis that when viewed with both eyes, particularly through a magnifyinglens, the receding landscape, the approaching foreground, and the doubleimage, corresponding to the view of the natural objects, are obtained,consequently conveyinga most vividjmpressiqn f lif To enable othersskilled in the art to constructand use our invention, wewill-nowfirst-describe'more-particularly our mode of preparing andarranging the pictures.

By the aid of a inicroscope,and using a. knife of a very fine, thinpoint, every portion of the cardfpaper, or other opaque substance, notpertaining strictly to the image to be exhibited, is carefully removed;and by inclining the point of the knife a little un'derthe picture, theedge of the card or substance will be thus slightly bevelled, andP11150111; of view from the front. If the card includes a representationof the floor of a room, that can be retained, if desired, by cutting toa line drawn transversely through the centre of the feet and bending thecard at that line so as to conform to the angle-of the background, ashereinafter described. If the picture he on paper or leather, the edgesshould then be carefully touched with white varnish, to prevent abrasionin handling. For a single likeness, or a single stationary group, weconstruct a case or frame, A, (see fig. 3 of the drawings,) adapted tothe size of the picture, of any of the usual forms, except, that insteadof having the back B of the frame or case stand parallel to the glassface in front, 0, we slope the back outward from the bottom u so that itmakes an angle of ten or twelve degrees, (more or less,) with the front0. On this inclined back, and conforming to it, we place a backgroundrepresenting landscape, or any other scenery desired; and if thelikeness to be mounted be full length and designed to exhibit anythingforward of the'fect, the foreground is continued on the same angle ofinclination as the background. The figure of the. person (prepared asbefore described} is then set in front of this background, the plane ofthe figure standing parallel with the front face of the frame or case,and diverging upward from the plane of the background. If it be a fulllength figure showing the feet, it is attached immediately to thebackground, the feet just touching the inclined plane, by inserting awedge, cut at the proper angle, between the background and the likeness.This wedgeshould be made of cork or other light material, but may be astrip of thin metal bentinto the form of a V, so that the two sidesconform to the angle of the two planes mentioned. One side of this wedgeis fastened to the background, and the opposite side to the back of thelikeness, with mucilage, glue, or in any other manner convenient- If thelikeness to be mountedbe-a vignette, or anything short'of a fulllength,-no part is placed in contact with the background; but it is heldin its position in front of the background by slipping the lower edgeinto a narrow ground or slit out in the bottom of the frame or caseforward of the inclined back, and parallel with the glass front. Toobtain the properefi'ect of this arrangement, the picture should beviewed through a large magnifying glass of long focus, (minute fractionsof an inch being converted into apparent distances.) But the greatestvalue and beauty of the principle consists in the ability to vary thegrouping of the figures, and change the scenery'und surroundings of thepicture with lifelike eflect. There being no surplus paper of the cardor other substance intervening to obstruct the view, we are able toefi'ect this result at will, in the following manner: A variety oflandscape views, or other scenery, is arranged around the marginalportion of a large, flat wheel, 0', of,'say t fe t in di eter, that partof the wheel being bevelled or sloped back, so as to form an angleof tenor twelve degrees with the general face of the wheel, this bevelledspace being, say, four inches wide from the periphery toward the centre;This wheel 0 is placed on a horizontal axle. Close in front of thisbevelled wheel another thin wheel,

' say, eight inches less diameter than the first, it placed, butrevolving independently around the same axis, the

periphery of the smaller wheel just reaching the bevelled portion of thelarger; In front of this, again, other 11in wheels, all parallel to thefirst, are placed, revolving independently of each other, but around thesameeommon axis each wheel in succession being so much smaller than theone behind it, that a line touching their peripheries would make nearlythe same angle with the vertical face of the wheel as the plane of thebackground on the larger wheel. In the edges or peripheries of thesesmall thin wheels narrow grooves or slits are cut, vertical and parallelto the sides of the wheel, for slipping in and holding the vignettelikeness. This being the mechanical arrangement, the full-lengthpictures are attached immediately to the inclined background on thelarge wheel, (being held divergent to its plane by means of thewedge-shaped device before described,) and the vignettes are held intheir positions diverging from the background by slipping the lower edgeinto the vertical grooves formed in the edges of the smaller wheels, therelative position and angles of background and likeness being the sameas that described for the stationary pictures. These wheels beingsuspended inside a box, we place a large magnifying lens, F, of, say,four inches diameter and twelve or fourteen inch focal distance, orthereabouts,.in the front side of the box, opposite that point wherethefigurcs become upright in revolving. The light may be admittedthrough an opening in the top or sides of the box, and should besubdued'by passing through a tinted glass. A movement of either wheelbrings difi'erent figures in juxtaposition, and amoveineut of the largewheel backs the picture with a diiierent landscape. To exhibit the mostbeautiful efi'ects from this mode of arrangev ment, there should beseveral of the smaller wheels, graduated down as we approach the frontin the proportion before indicated.

What we claim as our invention, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent,is-- 1. Arranging or mounting photographic likenesses on a planedivergent from the plane of the background and foreground, substantiallyas and for the purposes herein set forth.

2. The picture frame or case A, with the sloping back forholding thebackground and likeness on separate and divergent planes, substantiallyas and for the purpose described.

8.. The combination of parallel wheels, revolving independently aroundthe same axis, for the purpose of changing the grouping and scenery ofthe picture and bringing difi'erent figures in juxtapositionsuccessively,

substantially as set forth.

I. HOWELL,

FRANCIS E. MILLS.

Witnesses:

Wu. .Hnsnssn, F. N. Baovm.

